Device for the production of apparently-moving display matter



A. ABEL Dec. 30, 1930.

DEVICE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF APPAREN'ILY MOVING DISPLAY MATTER OriginalFiled Oct. 26, 1929 Patented Dec.1i0, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT; OFFICEAUGUST ABEL, OF LEIPZIG, GERMANY DEVICE FOR THE PRODUCTION OFAPPARENTLY-MOVING DIPLAY MATTER Original application filed October 26,1929, Serial No. 402,673, and in Germany December 14, 1928. Divided andthis application filed August 14, 1930. Serial No. 475,154.

This invention relates to optical devices and is the subject of divisionfrom my pending application Serial No. 402,673, filed Oct. 26, 1929, forlight advertising devices. It has reference particularly to a method andmeans for producing apparently moving displays of objects andrepresentations with continuous light, for advertising purposes, thesame being closely related to the subject-matter of the aforesaidapplication.

In devices for the production of apparently moving advertisingrepresentations, which are based. upon the persistance of vision of thehuman eye and in which a carrier bearing the representations is adaptedto move in a luminous field produced by short light flashes, inertialesssources of light, or more especially gas dischargin tubes such as neonor Moore light tubes, flave heretofore almost exclusively been used.However, these gas discharge tubes requir'e complicated auxiliarydevices for the provision of a suitable electric current, or for thetransformation of an unsuitable current into one suited for the urposeand having the required tension and requency, as well as the mostappropriate characteristic. Especially in the case of la rge sizedadvertising devices, such auxiliary apparatus is very costly, usuallynecessitates a certain amount of watching and, to some extent, isdangerous on account of the high tension required. Another disadvantageis the intensity of light produced by such luminous tubes beingrelatively low, especially if the light is to be concentrated upon asmall space.

The main object of this invention is to avoid all these difiiculties andit mainly consists in the provision of means causing the'illumination ofthe carrier and the representations thereon to be occasioned by aluminous field produced by ordinary inert sources of light, such, asstrong candle-power electric-arc or incandescent lamps, in much the samemanner as by luminous tubes fed by suitable electric current impulses.The invention therefore provides for a luminous field by ordinarysources of light, consisting of individual flashes of light of veryshort duration and which follow each other in predetermined c luallyspaced intervals. The intensities of the sources of light employed inthis way may be as great as desired and thus enable the construction ofconsiderably larger devices than heretofore, afiording considerablygreater and more powerful effects.

According to the invention, strong inert sources of light such as largeincandescent lamps are used to give forth light continuously and therays emanating therefrom are collected by suitable means, such asreflecting mirrors or condensers, and.transformed into evenly timedlight flashes of short duration by suitable electric or mechanical meansacting approximately in the focal point of the rays.- The flashes thusproduced from the ordinary sources of light are then cast or projectedeither directly or by means of special lenses or mirrors onto therepresentations on the moving carrier.

The means employed to transform the rays from ordinary, inert andconstantly shining sources of light into light flashes of short durationand suitable frequency, may be of difi'erent kinds. For example, theymay consist of a light-electric relay, such as a Kerrcell, a rapldlymoving mirror, or a shutter provided with a hole therein.

The accompanying drawings illustrate several modifications of theinvention by Way of example.

In said drawings:

Fig. 1 diagrammatically illustrates the transformation of the collectedrays from a continuously shining source of light into flashes of shortduration, and their control for obtaining evenly spaced intervals bymeans of a Kerr-call serving as a light-electric relay.

Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate the employment of a mechanical control by meansof a rapidly V rotating mirror for the same purpose; Fi 2 being a frontelevation of the device with its casing wall and the carrier partlybroken away, and Fig. 3 being a vertical central section through thedevice.

Fig. 4 shows another modification of a mechanical control for thecollected rays of light by means of a quickly rotating erforatedshutter, whereby the rays, after t eir transformation into evenly spacedshort flashes of light are projected onto the last mentioned carrier.The figure is a side elevation with its casing partly broken away or insection; and

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the carrier showing a series ofrepresentations thereon in one exemplary form, such representations inother figures being represented by a In the diagram of Fig. 1, thereference numeral 1 denotes an auxiliary battery and 2 a rotaryinterrupter to which a condenser 2 is connected in parallel. The numeral3 denotes the primary coil of a transformer 4, to the secondary coil 5of which the inertialess light relays 7 of suitable tension may bedirectly connected over an adjustable spark gap 6. Unless thusconnected, the higher tension which previously has been required for theregulating spark would have to be reduced in a second transformer 8 tothe tension which is required for said relay. The primary 9 of thetransformer 8 is then connected to the spark gap 6, whereas the reducedcontrol tension for the relays 7 is taken from the secondary 10. X

To the terminals 11 and 12 of the line wires, an ordinary inert sourceof light 13, such for example as a self-adj usting arc lamp or a highcandle power incandescent projector or a search light lamp is connectedover a rheostat 14. The rays of light emanating from the lamp 13 arepassed through a condenser 16, while the backwardly directed rays arepreferably caught or collected by meansof a reflector 15. If necessary,a cooling cuvette 18 may be introduced in front of the focal point 17 ofthe rays, while in said point, or close to it, the inertialess lightrelay 7 is arranged for the inertialess control of the lamp 13 inaccordance with the number of rotations of the interru ter 2, so that anintermittent luminous fiel of short flashes of light and suitablefrequency is produced. The divergent rays, after passing through therelay, are projected onto either the whole surface of the carrier 20whichis driven by the motor 19, or onto only a portion thereof. In thecase of transparent designs, the light is projected directly, as shownin Fig. 1, while in the case of reflecting designs, mirrors and lensesare interpositioned as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

In the arrangement of Figs. 2 and 3, the rays of light emanating fromthe inert source of light are mechanically converted or thrown intoevenly spaced flashes of short duration by means of a quickly rotatingmirror.

Regardless of the form of movable carrier employed, a definite relationis effected between the frequency of the light flashes and the speed ofsaid carrier. Accordingly, the disc-shaped carrier of the illustrativeembodiment is provided with transparent representations of successivestages of motion,

such as described in the aforesaid applica advantageously accomplishedby establishing the proper speed ratio between the drive of the shaft ofthe carrier and that of, the rotating mirror. If the carrier is placedin a casing having an observation opening behind which therepresentations thereon are moved into view, it is obvious that theflashes of light must be made to take place consecutively with theappearance of said representations within said opening, so that at suchmoments the mirror must take the reflecting position of its cycle ofmovement.

In this instance, the disc-shaped carrier 20 contains transparentcolored representations arranged equi-distantly in a cycle asrepresented by the small crosses in Fig. 2. The carrier disc is keyed onits shaft 21 which, together with other shafts of the. device isjournaled' in the frame 22. For the sake of clear showing of otherworking parts, this machine frame is not shown in Fig. 2. The carriershaft 21 is driven by the electric motor 27 through the train of speedgears 23. 24 and 25,26. Owing to the scarcity of drawing space, thecarrier itself is shown very small, but as indicated in Fig. 1, is

actually much larger than the whole driving arrangement. A mirror 29 isprovided on an arm on the motor shaft 28, which mirror iscounterbalanced. by a weight 30 on the opposite end of said arm. Everytime a representation or picture appears in the center of theobservation opening 31 in the casings plate 32, said mirror will assumethe position at which it reflects the rays of light emanating from thelamp 33 (Fig. 2), after these rays have converged in the condensing lens34 to a focal point against the stationary mirror 35, whence they areprojected onto the transparent picture 62 in the observation window justreferred to. At the rear of the light source 33, a reflector 36 isprovided to catch the backwardly directed rays, while between the rotarymirror 29 and the inclined stationary mirror 35, a collector lens 37 maybe provided to prevent dispersion of the rays on their way to saidstationary mirror so as to make the use of a small one possible.

Instead of having transparent pictures, the carrier may bear other kindsof representations, such for example as relief-like or plastic formsadapted to show under reflecting light. In such cases, it is necessaryto provide a further inclined mirror 35 as shown in Fig. 4, by means of.which the rays of light ing a hole therein for the passage of the raysof light) is used for transforming the rays emanating from an ordinaryconstantlyshining source of light'into evenly-spaced flashes of shortduration. This figure further illustrates the arrangement of 'a mirrorfor conducting the flashes of light to the front of the carrier asaforestated, the representations of consecutive movements of an objectthereon being in the form of colored plastic figures.

In cases where sound accompaniment for the moving representations isdesired, the

carrier may have an associated sound reproducing device of any suitablekind connected for synchronized operation. In Fig. 4, such a device isshown in the form of an ordinary gramophone connected with and driven bythe carriers shaft. Some other type of device, such for example as amagnetized steel wire (system Poulsen) may as readily be used. As is thecase with the sound reproducing device itself, its manner of connectionwith the carrier or other part of the light advertising device isimmaterial to the invention per se which, in this respect, resides moreessentially in the arrangement of a sound reproducing device inconnection with a device of the type described. 4

The said Fig. 4 merely illustrates a practical arrangement within acasing shown in sectional side elevation. According to this arrangement.the disc-shaped carrier 20 is provided with a cylindrical enlargement20a upon which the colored, plastic representations (1': of consecutivemovement are arranged. The carrier is of course rotatable with its shaft21 which is journaled in the frame 22 as before described. The shaft 21of the disc is driven by the electric motor 27 through the reducingspeed train of gears 23, 24 and 25, 26. On the motor shaft 28 there. isarranged an opaque disc 29 formed with a hole 29a. Every time arepresentation appears in the center of the Window opening 31 in thefront wall 32, the hole 29a of the rapidly rotating disc or stop-shutter29 is just in the focal point of the rays emanating from the constantlyshining source of light 33 after such rays have passed through thecondenser 34. Owing to the fact that the hole 29a in the shutter willpresent itself to the light only for an exceedingly brief moment andalways at the same predetermined interval of time, the carrier with itsindividual representations will be illuminated at these predeterminedintervals or moments by short flashes of light.

As the flashes of light are in this instance produced behind the carrier20, they must be reflected against the front face thereof onto theparticular representation which at the moment happens to be in theobservation opening 31. This is done by means of a stationary inclinedmirror 35. Behind the ,source of light, the reflecting mirror 36 may bearranged for the utilization of the backwardly projected rays whichotherwise would be lost.

A device of the type just described can be easily combined with asoundreproducing' device. In the illustrative device, a bevel wheel 47 isfastened to the shaft 21 of the carrier, so as to engage with a bevelwheel 38.- The shaft 39 of the latter carries the holder plate 40 for agramophone record 40a. The sounds are taken from the latter by the soundbox 41 and conducted through the arm 42 to the trumpet 43 from whichthey are emitted at the mouth opening 44. Complete synchronism betweenthe optic and the acoustic performances assured because of the directconnection of the carrier with the sound reproducing device.

Various changes and deviations from the examples described may beresorted to with out departing from the spirit of the invention. Forinstance, the carrier may be of different shape or configuration such asan endless band or drum, according to special conditions orrequirements. Also the external shape of the devices may be made to suitparticular purposes of advertising or places of exhibition.

What I claim is:

1. In a device for producing apparently moving display matter, a carrierhaving a plurality of representations of an object in different phasesof movement arranged thereon in correspondence with such phasesconsecutively, means for driving the carrier to move saidrepresentations before the eye of an observer, a constantly shiningsource of light, and means collecting and converting the rays therefrominto short flashes of light occurring at the rate of one with eachextent of the carriers drive for the distance between adjacentrepresentations so as to illuminate the same without perceptibleshut-off of the light; said means embodying a light electric relayconnected in an electric circuit including a source of current, acurrent interrupter, a condenser in parallel with the interrupter, atransformer, and an adjustable spark gap associated therewith.

2. In a device according to claim 1, the combination of soundreproducing means driven by the means driving the carrier for Allproviding and synchronizing sound accompaniment with the illuminateddisplay.

3. In a device for producing apparently moving display matter, meanseffecting instantaneous flash illumination of representations movedconsecutively by a carrier to a point of momentary observation,comprising an inert course of constantly shining light,

a light condenser for collecting and pro ectmg the rays therefrom towarda point, a

light-electric relay through which the rays are projected for timedcontrol of the light flashes and a controlling electric circuitconnected with the latter including a source of current, a currentinterrupter synchronized with the carrier for the representations, acondenser in parallel with the interrupter, and a transformer having aspark-gap associated with its secondary Winding.

4. In a device for producing apparently moving display matter, meansefiecting instantaneous flash illumination of representations movedconsecutively by a carrier to a point of momentary observation,comprising an inert source of constantly shining light, a lightcondenser for collecting and projecting the rays therefrom toward apoint, a light-electric relay through which the rays are projected fortimed control of the light flashes and a controlling electric circuitconnected with the latter including a source of current, a currentinterrupter synchronized with the carrier for the representations, acondenser in parallel with the interrupter and a cooperative pair oftransformers having a spark-gap between their secondary windings.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

AUGUST ABEL.

